Please ensure Javascript is enabled for purposes of website accessibility

Rhode Island Is Still Holding a Grudge Against Deloitte

A better title might be, “Rhode Island Tells Feds to Send All Fines Related to State’s Shitty Benefits Computer System to Deloitte.”

From the Associated Press:

The federal government is fining Rhode Island about $2 million for problems with the state’s benefits system.

WPRI-TV reports the problems stem from the botched rollout of a computer system for benefits programs. The U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Food and Nutrition Service found the state’s payment error rate was nearly 14% during fiscal year 2018.

In a letter late last month, the agency said most errors involved overpayments and ordered the state to pay $2 million.

The state plans to appeal. The state Department of Human Services says Deloitte, the company that designed the system, is responsible for paying the fine.

Yes, the Unified Health Infrastructure Project (UHIP) that Deloitte Consulting designed for Rhode Island has come back to bite the fourth-best consulting firm in the U.S. in the ass again.

UHIP, which was rolled out in September 2016, was supposed to streamline benefits, such as Medicaid, food stamps, and child-care assistance, for hundreds of thousands of Rhode Islanders. But it was launched without a backup—despite warnings that it wasn’t ready and without Deloitte piloting the system first.

You can probably guess what happened next.

UHIP was a complete disaster: residents reported missing benefits, hours-long call wait times to the state’s Department of Human Services, and long lines at DHS field offices, among other problems.

Nearly three years after it launched, UHIP still isn’t working the way Deloitte had intended. And because Deloitte gave them a piece of crap computer system, Rhode Island has not paid the firm since the failed rollout.

But in April, to the disbelief of many (including Deloitte, probably), Gov. Gina Raimondo extended the state’s contract with Deloitte for two years and agreed not to sue the firm because she didn’t want the state to be “tied up in expensive litigation for years.”

As part of that agreement, Deloitte agreed to pay $50 million to Rhode Island, assuming the two federal agencies that oversee and finance the state’s public-assistance programs give their approval. As of today, they have not.

And Deloitte won’t be allowed to include the potential $2 million fine in its $50 million payment to the state, Rhode Island DHS spokesperson David Levesque told the Providence Journal.

Levesque said Deloitte’s responsibility for paying any and all fines related to UHIP “is in addition to the $50 million payment negotiated as part of the recent contract.”

Haha, #SoDeloitteful.

Latest Accounting Jobs--Apply Now:

Have something to add to this story? Give us a shout by email, Twitter, or text/call the tipline at 202-505-8885. As always, all tips are anonymous.

Related articles

Deloitte Global CEO Joe Ucuzoglu Just Mic Dropped EY’s Messy Split Drama

Joe Ucuzoglu, the former head of Deloitte US and current Deloitte Global CEO, has recorded a 20 minute video which was circulated to all firm leadership yesterday and then, just to be sure EY sees it to be as transparent as possible, had it published to the Deloitte website for all to see. In it, […]

an angry mob descending on Deloitte's Vancouver office

People Angry About an Elevator Are Angrily Marching to Deloitte’s Vancouver Office Today

Today, residents of the Portland Hotel in Vancouver are marching to Deloitte offices to speak to Varun Banthia, Policy Specialist at Deloitte Future of Canada Centre. The issue? Their nine-story dwelling does not have a working elevator and Banthia sits on the board of directors of the PHS Community Services Society, a charitable non-profit that […]